Sunday, July 3, 2016

US acceptance of refugees by the millions has enabled tyrannical and incompetent governments around the world for decades. Normal consequence of bad government can't take place because US is always there to take the pressure off. Corrupt governments appreciate this service--Johnson, Human Events, Feb. 2005

At a news conference, the legislators said Sonora – Arizona’s
southern neighbor, made up of mostly small towns – cannot handle the
demand for housing, jobs and schools it will face as illegal Mexican
workers here return to their hometowns without jobs or money.

The law, which took effect Jan.1, punishes employers who knowingly
hire individuals who don’t have valid legal documents to work in the
United States. Penalties include suspension or loss of a business
license.

Its intent is to eliminate or curtail the top draw for immigrants to this country – jobs.

The Mexican delegation, members of Sonora’s 58th Legislature, belong
to the National Action Party (PAN), the party of Mexico’s president,
Felipe Calderón.

They spoke at the offices of Project PPEP, a nonprofit that provides job retraining for farmworkers and other programs.

The lawmakers were to travel to Phoenix for a Wednesday breakfast meeting with Hispanic legislators.

They want to tell them how the law will affect Mexican families on both sides of the border.

“How can they pass a law like this?” asked Mexican Rep. Leticia Amparano Gamez, who represents Nogales.

“There is not one person living in Sonora who does not have a friend or relative working in Arizona,” she said in Spanish. “Mexico is not prepared for this, for the tremendous problems” it
will face as more and more Mexicans working in Arizona and sending money
to their families return to hometowns in Sonora without jobs, she said.

“We are one family, socially and economically,” she said of the people of Sonora and Arizona.

Amparano said the Mexican legislators are already asking the federal government of Mexico for help for Sonora.

Rep. Florencio Diaz Armenta, coordinator of the delegation,
represents San Luis, south of Yuma, one of Arizona’s agricultural hubs,
which employs some 28,000 legal Mexican workers.

He said the Arizona law will lead to “disintegration of the family,”
as one “legal” Mexican parent remains in Arizona and the other returns
to Mexico.

Rep. Francisco Garcia Gámez, a legislator from Cananea and that
city’s former mayor, said the lack of mining jobs there has driven many
Mexicans to Arizona to find work. He said they depend on jobs in Arizona
to feed their families on both sides of the border. Gov. Janet Napolitano, in her State of the State speechMonday, said
the new law needs some modifications, including a better definition of
what constitutes a complaint.

Barrett Marson, director of communications for the Arizona House of
Representatives, said Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, “has some concerns
about how the law will be administered and applied.” He said the speaker sought testimony from the business community last
fall “to get ideas about how to make following the law easier. In the
end, that’s what he wants – compliance, but make it as easy as possible
to do.”

In 2001, Banco de México and the Federal Reserve Banks agreed to
study the possibility of linking the two countries' payment systems by
creating an efficient, interbank mechanism that would be available to
all financial institutions in both countries. The service was proposed
to improve access to the payments system network for financial
institutions on both sides of the border. It also aligned with the
Federal Reserve Banks' mission to ensure an efficient, effective, and
accessible retail payments system. From this partnership, the FedACH
(Federal Reserve Automated Clearinghouse) International® Mexico
Service, now known as Directo a México, was created in 2003.Marketing
of the new service to financial institutions in the U.S. began in the
summer of 2005.

The main selling points of Directo a México to U.S. financial
institutions and the Mexican-American customers they serve are the
service's security, speed, and low cost. Directo a México lowers the
cost of sending a remittance in two important ways. First, financial
institutions can make money transfers through the service with a very
low, per-item surcharge of $0.67. Second, the service offers a
competitive exchange rate for converting dollars into pesos, regardless
of the amount transferred, that is generally lower than the exchange
rate charged by MTOs. For example, the Federal Reserve Banks estimated
that the service would save 55 pesos (approximately $5) on a $350
remittance transfer, in comparison to the fee charged by a typical MTO.5/While
financial institutions charge an add-on fee to their customers
for using Directo a México, the overall per-transaction cost of the
service is generally at or below $5, or roughly half the total fee
charged by most MTOs.6/............ One of the key requirements of the program is that both the sender
and receiver of the remittance need to have a bank account.
Bank-to-bank transfer services are a more secure method of transferring
money across the border than informal means such as the mail.
Additional advantages of using the service include the ability to
automate recurring transfer payments and the fact that money is
available to recipients in Mexico on the next banking day. In addition,
the Directo a México program helps financial institutions overcome the
English-Spanish language barrier. The service provides Spanish-language
promotional templates for brochures, pamphlets, and other marketing
materials that enrolled U.S. financial institutions can use. One challenge for Directo a México is that the market for
bank-to-bank transfers may be limited by the relatively small
proportion of households in Mexico with bank accounts. Several studies
suggest that roughly 30 percent of Mexican households have bank
accounts, compared to roughly 64 percent7/
in the U.S........... To help overcome this hurdle, the Federal Reserve Banks
and Banco de México collaboratedwith BANSEFI, a bank owned by the
Mexican government, to create the Beneficiary Account Registration (BAR)
web site. The site allows financial institutions in the U.S. to
generate an 18-digit bank account number, also known as a CLABE, at a
BANSEFI branch. The financial institution can use Directo a México and
the CLABE to transfer funds from the U.S. to Mexico. The web site
enables originating financial institutions in the U.S. to initiate a
Mexican bank account at any of BANSEFI's branches, which are typically
located in rural and low-income areas throughout Mexico. The
beneficiary must then go to the BANSEFI branch, or its affiliated
financial institutions, with proper identification to formalize the
account. The BAR web site promotes financial inclusion by encouraging
the otherwise "unbanked" Mexican citizen to open a bank account and
participate in the country's financial system.

One credit union's story

To date, more than 380financial institutions in 42 stateshave
enrolled in Directo a México, compared to just six institutions when the
service was launched in 2004. In the Ninth Federal Reserve District,
29 institutions have signed on. The earliest adopters include St. Paul
Federal Credit Union, Franklin National Bank, Bank Cherokee, Arcadia
Credit Union, and Royal Credit Union.

According to St. Paul FCU Branch Manager David De Santiago,
encouragement from the consulateplayed an important role in his
institution's involvement in the program. "The Mexican consulate helped identify that most of our money
transfers in the St. Paul area are to one particular city in Mexico, the
city of Tarímbaro. It also identified the credit union branch that most
of the beneficiaries use in Tarímbaro, which is Caja Morelia
Valladolid. St. Paul Federal Credit Union shared this information with
BANSEFI, and BANSEFI in turn added Caja Morelia Valladolid to the BAR
web site and initiated a networking relationship between the two
institutions."Thanks to the Directo a México promotional templates, St. Paul FCU is
able to market the service using monthly newsletters, colorful
brochures, and press releases. The credit union charges a flat fee of
$3 per remittance, regardless of the amount transferred. Since it began
offering the service, St. Paul FCU has seen Directo a México serve as
an entry product that enables customers to move into a fuller,
traditional banking relationship. According to De Santiago, "Directo a
México is a useful tool to pull in customers, but it is up to us to
keep them as customers and introduce them to all the other traditional
products the credit union has to offer."

Since the inception of Directo a México, participation in the service
has steadily climbed. Now, more and more financial institutions are
expressing an interest in entering the remittance market. According to
McQuerry, "We've seen significant increases in payments volume since the
creation of Directo a México, and new depository financial
institutions sign up to participate in the service every month.
Including government items, Directo a México has processed more than
1.3 million items to date, with zero payments lost." Still, the true test of the service lies ahead. One of the key
challenges for Directo a México will beto gain market share against
the more established remittance providers, like Western Union and
MoneyGram. It also remains to be seen whether the new service will
increase the number of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who leave the
ranks of the unbanked. Early evidence suggests that as word of the new
service spreads and more financial institutions sign on, the potential
benefits of Directo a México may indeed be realized."

"For more information on Directo a México, visit www.directoamexico.com. Jimmy Nguyen served as a Community Affairs intern at the Federal
Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in the summer of 2008. He is currently
pursuing a bachelor's degree in finance and economics at the University
of St. Thomas."....................======